A team from Singapore is taking home a $100,000 prize for developing
an algorithm that could help airlines better predict flight arrival
times and reduce passenger delays. The contest was sponsored by General
Electric and Alaska Airlines.

Travelers are accustomed to long flight delays and cancellations for
any host of reasons. Few realize that airlines themselves aren’t all
that good at predicting when a flight will arrive at its destination
even once it’s ready to leave the gate. Due to changes in weather,
flight patterns, and bottlenecks, they are off by an average of seven
minutes across the industry, says Gary Beck, vice president of flight
operations for Alaska Airlines.

The winning algorithm—which produced flight arrival estimates that
were nearly 40 percent better than current ones—could help airlines
reduce gate congestion and manage crews more efficiently, and as a
result could save travelers up to five minutes at the gate, say the
prize sponsors. Each minute in reduction per flight could also save $1.2
million in annual crew costs and $5 million in annual fuel savings for a
midsized airline.